We live in an information age. Your diagnosis and condition can be easily researched for further information.

You’re more familiar with your body and how it reacts because YOU live in your body. Your physician can only provide diagnosis and treatment options based on the information presented.

By researching your condition, you can make suggestions to your physician. Together you can create an educated plan to address the obstacles to your health.

Value of Evidence-Based Medicine
Evidence-based medicine has a history of working for various conditions. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been practiced for over 3000 years. Effective treatments tend to stand the test of time.

Scientific testing is now in use for treatments with a shorter history.

For example, a strain of bacteria is placed in a Petri dish and is treated with herbs. If the herbal treatment is effective, the testing is repeated with animals, then humans.

A meta analysis follows to evaluate all of the research on this bacteria and herb to review the outcomes of the studies. Thousands of articles provide a convincing case that what is being used actually works.

The downside? Testing can be expensive and requires time and effort. Blind studies and mechanistic evidence are sometimes skipped because of the cost. Each part of an herb needs to be tested against bacteria to establish the most effective method for treatment with herbs. Sometimes extraction is necessary to harness the best result.

Alternate Considerations
You can have your genome analyzed by services like www.23andme.com. You can also improve nutrition and your health through food instead of using a genome service. Every individual is different.

Medications are sometimes recalled. Evidence may show them to be less safe and effective than when they were first released. The goal is the best outcome for the patients, even if that means discontinuing former treatments.

Listen in as Guillermo Ruiz joins Dr. Holly Lucille to discuss natural evidence-based medicine.